Title: Professor Emeritus of the Doctoral Program in Earth and Environmental Sciences
Company: Graduate School of the City University of New York
Location: Williamsburg, Virginia, United States
Arthur M. Langer, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of the Doctoral Program in Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Graduate School of the City University of New York, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Educators for dedication, achievements, and leadership in health and environmental science.
Dr. Langer’s interest in mineralogy and Earth sciences was born from his lifelong passion for chemistry and a fascination with the nature of chemical bonds and reactions. Geology offered him the unique challenge of being an integrated science requiring a mastery of mathematics and physics in addition to chemistry, and in 1956, he completed a Bachelor of Arts in geology at Hunter College. He continued his education at Columbia University while serving in the United States Army Reserves, earning a Master of Arts in petrology in 1962 and a Doctor of Philosophy in mineralogy in 1965. While still a graduate student at Columbia, he collaborated with department faculty to produce reports concerning issues important to mining and petroleum corporations and the United States Air Force. Many of these studies were published in peer-reviewed literature (Geological Society of America, Mineralogical Society of America).
Throughout his career, Dr. Langer acted as a consultant and research assistant on projects for the United States Air Force, the Texas Gulf Sulfur Corporation, Creole Oil Company, and many other major players in the mining and extraction industry. He spent more than 25 years as a professor and administrator at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, rising to become Associate Director of the school’s Environmental Sciences Laboratory and the NIEHS Center. Some of Dr. Langer’s most influential research was conducted during this period, including a collaboration with pathologist J. Chris Wagner studying human disease processes and inorganic particles considered to be some of the earliest research on mesothelioma and silicosis. In addition to his work at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Dr. Langer was esteemed faculty at Brooklyn College and the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York, where he retains professor emeritus status. His research interests included asbestos mineral fibers in ambient air, fibers in workplaces, fibers in human tissues; properties that impart biological activity to mineral particles and dust; instrumental techniques, and media analysis. Interest and study of talc 1967 – present are among Dr. Langer’s early publications related to consumer talcum.
Since 1975, Dr. Langer has lent his expertise as a consultant to the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and since 1985, he has consulted for the EPA on Superfund cases across the United States. Widely acknowledged as a trailblazer in his field, Dr. Langer is responsible for organizing dozens of workshops, conferences, and symposia on health and pollution, and has served on the editorial boards of professional publications such as the Open Environmental Engineering Journal, Environmental Research, and the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. He is a former research associate of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the American Museum of Natural History and has been made a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, the Mineralogical Society of America, the Collegium Ramazzini, and the New York Academy of Sciences, among many other organizations. In recognition of his contributions to geology and environmental science, Dr. Langer was presented with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Career Scientist Award and the John Polachek Foundation Award for Medical Research on Silicosis, inducted into the City University of New York Hall of Fame, and received a commendation from the Mayor of the City of New York.
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